It would be awesome if there was a starting template designed for creating an ePUB with InDesign CS5.5.

I've looked at the ePUB ZenGarden for ePUB which is cool but doesn't have a lot of the common features that many books might want - like wrapped images, drop caps, etc.

I want my eBook to look great but I'm not a CSS wizard. Having a template for InDesign CS5.5 would be a great way to start eBook creation from scratch.

I was hoping that I'd find something like a CSS template for ePUB in this thread but not so. Anyone have something like this, a starting template for ePUBs? Could be a basic CSS or InDesign CS5.5 file.

You can easily create a template for your own with the code snippets in this thread. It is usually better to only put the styles in the stylesheet that you are using to prevent redundant coding.
You don't have to be a wizard, most stuff isn't really complex. At least basic CSS knowledge is invaluable if you are creating ePUBs. Personally I am not to crazy about the stylesheets ID generates. The examples I have seen here on the forum has a lot of redundant code. I think most stylesheets can be reduced to approx. 20% with no impacton the display of the text.

The majority of the code in this thread relates to drop caps. I'm looking for a starter template, one that contains the majority of styles that most users are going to require. I suggested a few of them already in my last post.

Of course we all want an uber-clean stylesheet...but we also want to get the job done quick. Having pre-determined styles, especially in a WYSIWYG tool like InDesign, that correctly display in the exported EPUB would be a huge time saver for me. Once I set the styles correctly in ID, I can go back and tweak the exported EPUB to my hearts content. The template is a starting block to save time.

As I mentioned, the ePub Zen Garden begins this process by creating a blank template with pre-determined styles but is missing a number of the basic styles most designers would need.

Anyone have such a template they would be willing to post?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxaris

You can easily create a template for your own with the code snippets in this thread. It is usually better to only put the styles in the stylesheet that you are using to prevent redundant coding.
You don't have to be a wizard, most stuff isn't really complex. At least basic CSS knowledge is invaluable if you are creating ePUBs. Personally I am not to crazy about the stylesheets ID generates. The examples I have seen here on the forum has a lot of redundant code. I think most stylesheets can be reduced to approx. 20% with no impacton the display of the text.

You can open any of the books I have uploaded and see the embedded styles, they are pretty much my "templates", although each book has its own little customizations. I don't use wrapped images, though, because I couldn't find a satisfactory solution that would work in all situations (big and small screens, landscape and portrait).

You can start off with the one Project Gutenberg used for one of their latest ebook offerings, Ulster Folklore by Elizabeth Andrews and modifiy to suit your generic needs. That html ebook can be found here.

( It's etext # 37187 for GuteBook users... )

By the way, below is just a listing of their <styles> section embedded in their .html, namely:

... but seriously, they are still trying to reproduce the original book "page layout" without regards to smaller portable devices. My GuteBook pre/post processor eliminates a lot of these biases and substitutes my own as an ebook creator for portable devices...

This is what I've replaced their CSS with after using GuteBook to create an epub ebook without wide margins, page numbers inserted into the text body, large pararagh/section breaks, etc... (Note: the code in Blue at the bottom was inserted by GuteBook to replace any previous style used by PG above it)

I wouldn't recommend that. PG books are created in TXT and HTML formats, targeted mainly for computer screens (and there's no unified style, every creator does what he/she likes best). The ePub, Mobi, etc. formats are automatically created by a custom program, the result of which leaves often much to be desired.

A comment:
with that kind of style-sheet (yes, I also convert from PG quite a lot) I cannot get the small-caps to show (desktop; XP; Calibre viewer) unless I add font-family: serif; to the declaration -- I used to need font-family: verdana, serif; until I updated to the "calibri, etc. pack".
Of course, I am using "default system fonts", and usually disable any others -- liking clear-type.
This is intended as a warning/request for information: is that a general issue ... ?
Of course, there are specific small-caps fonts, or font families with the variant included (I have found quite a few as freebies) -- but I should say many people, like myself, would rather stick to system defaults.

There is an issue with small caps. They are usually not supported in the readers, but they should. Currently your only real method is to include a small caps font.
Another method is the fake the smallcaps by reducing the size of capitals. However, that is not the same.